1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a marking composition for use in conjunction with code indicia scanning apparatus, as well as the methods of implementing same and the substrates and products obtained thereby. More particularly, the present invention relates to a red marking composition comprising a mixture of white and red pigments and its use in marking substrates with processable Universal Product Code indicia.
2. Background of the Invention
Optical reader-scanner systems are achieving widespread applications. The systems operate as data input systems by reading codes imprinted on items. Such systems are, for example, being used in businesses for inventory control. One well-known major application is in the use of the UPC (Universal Product Code) system in the grocery supermarket business in conjunction with electronic cash register systems.
The UPC symbol system was developed by the Universal Grocery Product Code Council, Inc., and is a bar code system which provides for binary coding of ten product identification decimal digits. The first five of these digits generally identify the product of the item, and the last five identify the particular item of the product line. The actual symbol is comprised of about sixty parallel light and dark, i.e., relative high light reflective and relative low light reflective (or light absorptive) bars, with the contrast in reflectance between the highly reflective and low reflective and/or absorptive bars necessarily being sufficient to allow an accurate reading of the symbol. Each of the ten digits used to identify the item is represented by a specific group of these bars and the actual encoding of the digit is obtained by a variation in the widths of the bars making up this group.
In some cases, lesser numbers of digits are used and provisions have been made for utilizing greater numbers of digits for future codification. A complete description of the UPC symbol system may be found in a publication entitled "UPC Symbol Specification" dated May 1973 and having been published by Distribution Number Bank, 1725 K Street, N.W. Washington, D.C.
A reader-scanner system contributes to the efficiency and convenience of the operation of automated checkout counters by allowing the UPC symbols to be red automatically as a package is manually transferred from the counter across a scan pattern area or window.
In automatic electronic cash register systems the data covering such things as pricing, quantity or coupon discounting and the taxable or non-taxable nature of the item are stored in a memory bank of a controller console. The controller is programmed so that the address of this memory bank location corresponds to digital information encoded in the UPC symbol printed on the package of the item.
Typically, the scan pattern system uses a very low-powered scanning laser to provide a coherent beam of monochromatic light. The use of this type of light source provides the high level signal-to-noise ratio necessary for processing that is unavailable from other sources. The laser beam is directed to a scanner mechanism which generates a optical scan pattern at a window in the check-out counter. One example of such an optical reader-scanner system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,710.
The actual identification of the symbol is made by electronically analyzing the signals generated by the laser light beam that is reflected back from the package surface to an optical detector. The output of the detector then goes to electronic circuitry and is continuously analyzed for the UPC symbol coded content.
When the high speed movement of the light beam crosses the light and dark bars of a UPC symbol, a specific pulse train waveform is generated. The characteristics of this waveform are established by the width of the individual light and dark bars and by the speed of the sweep. If the electronic circuitry determines that the symbol is valid and positive identification of the symbol is made, the signal is passed onto the controller of the cash register system. This output signal provides the address for the memory bank location where the instructions for billing and cash register-receipt recording of that symbol are stored.
If the symbol is not valid, i.e., has been tampered with, altered, damaged, or is simply not readable, the positive identification cannot be made and a no-reading visual or audio alarm is sounded. This notifies the clerk that a visual identification and a manual cash register entry must be made.
Generally, the UPC symbol is made by printing dark bars on a white, reflective background with marking means such as inks of a black color or some other dull color. Initially, this necessitated the use of white labels having black indicia printed thereon, with said labels being attached to the wrapping or container of the commercial product. Of course, the use of such a label can be unsightly and detract from the overall appeal of a packaged product.
If the wrapping or container provided a suitable reflective background, however, the black code indicia could be printed directly on the wrapping or container. But this requires multiple printing stations if the trade dress and/or printed designs were not in black. More specifically, a printing system is required which includes one or more stations for imprinting the colored trade dress designs and at least one additional station for imprinting the coded material in black. Moreover, the black code still detracts from the overall aesthetic quality of the finished product.
Accordingly, the industry has strived to blend code indicia such as UPC indicia into the trade dress and/or packaging of an item to thereby enhance the aesthetic quality of the packaged product or item, but to as well avoid the need for additional printing stations For example, one method is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,094, which discloses the addition of certain metallic compounds to colored inks in order to effect the desired improvements in the infrared absorption characteristics of the ink. Thus, when code indicia are printed with colored inks on a reflective background, a sufficient contrast in reflectance is obtained so that the code can be successfully read.
An additional problem arises, however, when the package does not provide a suitable reflective background of sufficient size on which to print the symbol. In such instances, the return to using labels imprinted with the symbol has been necessary, with its aesthetic disadvantages. A printing of the code in a negative mode has at times been attempted where the trade dress is of a white reflective color and the background provided by the item offers little reflectance. By "negative mode" is meant that the actual printed indicia act as the reflective background of the UPC code symbol and the spaces or voids between the printed indicia, which show the absorptive background, are the non-reflective or absorptive portion of the UPC symbol. Unfortunately, ones trade dress color is not always reflective in the appropriate wavelength region. In particular, the aforediscussed technique cannot be used when the trade dress color is red, a color which is not even read by conventional scanning systems as the scanning laser, e.g., as used in UPC processing systems, are blind to the color red.
Thus, whenever red is the trade dress color, a label has generally had to be used with the trade dress being one color and the indicia of the symbol imprinted in another color. Or, it has been attempted to use a double printing system where the red color is printed or imposed of white so that suitable background reflectance can be achieved, with black code indicia then being imprinted thereon. All of these methods, however, suffer from the expense of having to use multiple printing stations and steps and/or the loss of aesthetic quality by employing a different color. To overcome these problems and disadvantages is a desideratum of the code symbol art. However, no truly practical solution to using red in a symbol to be processed by code indicia scanning apparatus, despite the constant search therefor, has yet been found.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a marking composition which is of a reddish color and which can be used in a code symbol to be processed by a visible or infrared code indicia scanning system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method in which a UPC symbol having reddish indicia can be successfully employed on a non-reflective substrate. The provision of a substrate having the said UPC code symbol imprinted thereon is also an object of the present invention.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method in which a UPC symbol having reddish indicia can be successfully employed on a transparent container, especially when the container is filled with a fruit juice such as orange juice or grapefruit juice. The provision of such a container having said UPC symbol imprinted thereon is also an object of the present invention.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for the successful employment of code symbols comprising red printed indicia without the need for multiple printing steps.
In general, it is an object of the present invention to provide a marking composition having suitable reflectance in the visible and infrared region of from 600 to about 1000 nm to be appropriate for use as the reflective portion of a code symbol, and to thereby be processable by a code indicia scanning system, wherein the colored pigment of the composition is generally unsuitable for such a purpose alone due to its "insufficient reflectance", i.e., its inability to reflect in the range of from about 600 to about 1000 nm and/or be processed by the code indicia scanning system. The provision of methods for using said composition successfully in imprinting code indicia, without multiple printing steps, and the provision of a substrate imprinted with said code indicia are also objects of the present invention.
These and other objects, as well as the scope, nature and utilization of the invention, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and the appended claims.